It is not the first time that we feel societal bond after the application of the new traffic law, which is originally a comprehensive amendment to traffic sanctions. Many people have anxiety and fear, and many criticized that the idea turned from deterrence into a way to impose more fees on citizens and residents!
But for a moment, some people may be imagined that society is accustomed to violations and walking without a system, while the truth is otherwise. Most of our drivers have a high degree of commitment, not for fear of punishment, but because driving has art and morals, so why fear! Yes, there is a category that tries to empty its cabinet, or showcase its muscles in the street, some of them see themselves smarter than the law, while others think they are more important than the law.
Personally, I wished that the sanctions in some violations that pose a real danger in the street will be more thick, because such violations not only affect their perpetrator, but may also lead to the life of innocent guilt, that they were present at the moment and the place where the reckoning was practicing his recklessness and crime.
And the numbers confirm this in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The traffic accident death rate in 2019 reached about 5.2 per 100,000 people, which is one of the lowest rates in the last two decades, but it still means painful losses.
Studies indicate that young people under 25 years are more vulnerable to death at a rate that exceeds the rest of the population with three and a half times, which makes violations such as cutting the sign or excessive speed a direct cause of tragedies paid for innocent price. I also wished that the system of traffic points that have become common in many countries would be activated, so that it is combined with violations to be more deterrent and organized.
The mere spread of the news of activating the new law caused confusion among many violators and minors, even those who underestimated minor administrative violations such as (registration of the vehicle), rushed to end their obligations. Here, too, I hope that the Traffic Department will launch an initiative to settle accumulated violations, so that it gives an opportunity for everyone to open a new page with the system, by reducing the arrears or installing the amounts, so that everyone can adjust their outstanding conditions.
Today, I do not say that the Traffic Department is facing a challenge, but rather I see that it needs more means and methods to monitor violations. Everyone knows that there are (cameras), and we do not say that we are fighting for them, but we are committed to specific places and tolerate elsewhere when we know that the situation is safe! That is why we need additional means, such as secret traffic, or the use of civilian drivers working as monitoring units, and other methods that the Traffic Department undoubtedly plans to achieve.
In turn, we are members of society, we thank the traffic men and seek their hands, they are the symbol of safety in our streets. The traffic man is not, as it is always said, “coming to disagree”, but rather he is coming to help and protects, and to be the hand that prevents harm to the occurrence, God forbid.
